Beto O'Rourke

Chris Matthews is hosting a town hall with Beto on MSNBC. First time I've ever seen him speak.

As Mrs NoCo said, "Damn, he's like a white Obama." Complete sentences, no umms or ahhs, answers questions rather than ducking them, and what he says makes a lot of sense. He promises a lot, and probably needs to adjust his expectations & promises to reflect the new reality in Washington, but there's plenty of time for that.

Not more than five minutes ago, while watching a clip of Beto on the tube, my wife made the same observation: "He reminds me of Obama." And I agreed that "Yeah. He is like a white Obama." And, of course, we both find that to the be a very positive thing.

Quick, name the three Democrats running for statewide office that [most] Democrats knew and/or cared about: Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams and Beto O'Rourke, right? Well, Gillum lost narrowly. Abrams is losing less narrowly. And O'Rourke overperformed past Democrats in Texas but still lost.That knocks out the three biggest potential stars coming out of this election for Democrats.

CNN wrote:

Mitch McConnell is still the smartest guy in Senate politicsFor a time over the summer, there was talk that Democrats could win the Senate. McConnell never panicked, kept Trump on board and delivered the goods -- again -- on Tuesday night. Wins in Florida, Indiana, North Dakota, coupled with Republicans holding their own endangered seats in Tennessee and Texas, not only kept the Senate in GOP hands but expanded the party's majority -- giving them some wiggle room on tough votes over the next two years.This was a map -- 26 Democratic seats up as compared to nine for Republicans -- that Republicans should have capitalized on. And while they didn't run the table -- Joe Manchin in West Virginia, for one, won -- they picked up seats in a national environment that clearly favored Democrats. That looked unlikely as recently as a month ago.

Such is the power of gerrymandering.

CNN wrote:

If you asked Democrats going into Tuesday night which governor race they wanted to win the most, they'd likely name Florida first and then Ohio. They won neither. And there's meaning well beyond simply losing at the gubernatorial level. Both are swing states -- maybe the two swingiest states -- going into the 2020 presidential election, and it's always better to have a governor's political machine working for you rather than against you in a swing state. And Republicans will have the upper hand in redistricting in 2021 in that trio of states -- which matters a whole hell of a lot.

So, it's up to Mueller to take Trump out now. If he doesn't, he'll win re-election in 2020.

And if he DOES, there'll be chaos in the streets.No good options here.

This was not a night of cleansing, righteous fire. It was, instead, an election that accomplished three necessary things.

First, the 2018 vote delivered enough Democratic success to introduce some oversight and accountability into the federal government after two years of executive impunity. The House Intelligence Committee will resume protecting Americans rather than covering up for Russians.

Second, the vote administered enough Democratic disappointment to check the party’s most self-destructive tendencies. If Beto O’Rourke had eked it out in Texas, Democrats might well have nominated him for president in 2020, almost guaranteeing a debacle. There is no progressive majority in America. There is no progressive plurality in America. And there certainly is no progressive Electoral College coalition in America.

Third, the vote reminded all concerned Americans how very, very difficult will be the struggle to preserve and restore liberal democracy after Trumpocracy. The American system of government has always mixed majoritarian and anti-majoritarian features. It should not have surprised anyone that as the United States evolved toward being a “majority minority” nation, the anti-majoritarian features of its democracy have gained ascendancy over the majoritarian ones.

It may not be right that the middle of the country exerts radically more political weight than the coasts, or that white votes typically count for more than nonwhite votes. Right or not, those things are true, at least for now, and as long as they remain true, political realists must reckon with them. If 2018 offered a promise of at least some restraint on the Trump presidency, it also yielded a reminder of the hardest facts of American life and politics.

The first, most important, thing needed is to ensure fair, secure elections. The gerrymandering situation is bad, but simply enabling people to vote and counting their votes accurately would go a long way to straightening the current mess out.